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Tankmate possibilities 5, 10 , 20 gal...

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Hello,

What I have: 2 gal tank w/ 1 male betta...I know, I know...will be upgrading to a 5 gal.

What I want:

Possibly a tankmate for the betta once he's in the 5 gal, maybe even just a ghost shrimp. I really wanted an African dwarf frog, but I think they need to be with more than one and I'm not sure the 5 gal would be big enough for the betta and 1 frog. I'm not sure about the tankmate because he seems fairly aggressive, but may calm down in the 5 gal.

I have a 5.5 gallon with one male betta. There's an apple snail in there with him now, but I wouldn't put any other fish in (even though I'd love to pop in a couple of otos as itinerant workers to help out the snail with the algae!).

In a ten gallon or twenty gallon, I would probably stick to bigger tank mates rather than a school of smallish fish like neons.

I participate on the bettafish forum and I've seen several positive posts regarding housing dwarf frogs with bettas. But, as fishmommie mentioned above, your betta's personal level of aggression or conviviality should guide any stocking decision.

Update

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Hi to All~

I have read a few places where Bettas get along well with african dwarf (not clawed) frogs. You can also see them in action on youtube, "Betta and african dwarf frogs". I was also wondering about ghost shrimp, good for scavenging, difficult for the betta to see (they have difficulty focusing on anything closer than 1 foot in front of them). If he doesn't view them as a snack, we'll be good to go! The one betta I have now seems very aggressive, so it might not be the best idea with him, but I don't have any other bettas to compare him to, so maybe its typical behavior...at least he seems very healthy : ) I hope to move him into a 5 gal soon...and that will max out my desk space. He seems to like it there with all the activity. When we lost power during Sandy, I had him connected to UPS with his light timer, heater and filter/aerator...he never even experienced a hiccup in power!

I would like to get a 10 gal for home...this is really getting addictive! I was at Petsmart buying prime and I was this beautiful solid white half moon betta (no, no can't do it...must resist!), then I also saw a betta with one eye, looked like he was born like that, didn't seem to bother him at all and I wanted to get him too, but no tank, nothing setup, no space @ present.

I would like to tell anyone that is interested that Petsmart is selling Christmas/Winter aquarium decorations that are aquarium safe! They had a christmas tree, santa, penguin, reindeer and a snowman...really cute $2-$3 ea.

As for cycling, I would like to set up the tank with Tetra Safe Start. I had some good luck with this...lowered my nitrites from off the chart (over 5ppm) to 0, and raised the nitrates from 0 to 5ppm. I like the idea of introducing the "good bacteria" without taking from another aquarium (and possibly getting some not so good additions from the other tank as well). I would do the cycling with fish. When I first got my betta, I had never even heard of cycling. Luckily my betta is a tough cookie and he survived it all! I am much better informed now, in fact I now know exactly what to worry about...so much for this being a relaxing hobby ; )

yes but remember as i'm sure you are already aware, cycling with fish takes double the time that you would normally need, if not longer depending how you stock your tank (preferably with no more than three fish on the first go)

Read the sticky's on the forum by lady hobbs in regards to cycling with fish and without fish.

and yes i know about the issue about needing to resist with buying extra betta's at petsmart...my ten gallon i have was going to be for my first betta, but i got a double tailed betta to go in there instead.

That's actually kind of good, because i think jack would be the agressive type, so needs to be alone.

Betta personality

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Well, I finally got an answer about how aggressive my little friend is...a few things got loose in the tank and, after cleaning my hands in spring water, tried to fix everything in one go. He flaired to his full ability and tried to attack my hand...no little tankmates for you bub! On a more positive note, his tail looks great-it really grew out an is very full, almost has full tips now, two-tone from where it grew back. He'll be movin' on up to a 5 gal (in a 2 gal now...I didn't know any better at the time!) in January. I do 25% wc 1x wk, and test chemistry also 1x wk, restuls holding steady: ammonia: 0 ( I used to consider it .25, but I tested spring water and got the exact same color, so after driving myself crazy, and as the color matched closer to 0, 0 it is), pH : 8, nitrites:0ppm, nitrates between 5-10ppm. Temp:80. He's very active and eats well. He eats 2x day 6 days wk, 5 pellets each time and always begs for more. I feed him 1 at a time and make sure he eats each one. His stomach looks normal. So, so are so good! Btw, the white betta was gone the next time I was at the store, I didn't see the other betta either...I hope they went to good really big homes!